KUALA LUMPUR: The findings and recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip are likely to spark a flurry of applications for judicial reviews of judgments in cases presided over by Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and Tun Mohd Eusoff Chin, especially where Datuk V.K. Lingam was one of the parties.

One of them, lawyer Wee Choo Keong has said he would file for a judicial review of the case where he had to vacate his Bukit Bintang seat, subsequently given to Dr Lee Chong Meng, who had contested against him in the 1995 elections.

During his telephone conversation, Lingam had mentioned Wee's name and thanked the other person on the line for his help. The commission established the person to be Ahmad Fairuz.

Now MP for Wangsa Maju, Wee said he counted himself "a victim" of Ahmad Fairuz's judgment.

"I will seek a judicial review in the coming days.
"I welcome the findings and hope the government will follow through with the recommendations. Let us not let this go the way of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission. I also call upon the administration to table the royal commission report in Parliament on Tuesday for debate."

Other lawyers agreed that filing for a review of judgments was the best recourse for litigants who felt that they were wronged.

Veteran lawyer Karpal Singh said there was a precedent for cases to be reviewed.

"Cases in the High Court, Court of Appeal and even Federal Court, which is the apex court in the land can be reviewed," he said yesterday.

Human rights lawyer Amir Hamzah Arshad said the decisions could be reviewed by a court of competent jurisdiction, that is the High Court or Federal Court.

"It is a wrong that has been found now and can be reviewed by the relevant court. Both judges had heard cases at various stages of the system and where Lingam could have appeared before them," he said.

"This is a painful process to go through, to recover our judiciary. If we want to rectify any wrong to litigants, the time is now."

Veteran lawyer Gurbachan Singh said there was sufficient justification to warrant an application to review cases which involved Lingam and both former chief justices.

"On the basis in which there had been a relationship between the three of them, it justifies a review of the cases."

None of the judges, he added, could be expected to be impartial when presiding over the cases.